The Hummel Quest Origins
by HerrWeidner
Summary: The world's largest conflict is drawing to an end. In a desperate attempt to turn the tide of war, the German nation has built a weapon capable of destroying the allied armies. Officially recognized by autophagy.
1. Nuclear Memories

"How long must we stay in this pillbox?" I ask myself as I roll my treads back and forth in a stretch. My barrel swings to the left and then to the right to check on the bunkers under my care. "Achtung Kampfgruppe von Weidner, status update." I broadcast over my channel to the four bunkers in my sights. One by one they each signal back the all clear. "Get some sleep men." I said the term men loosely; most of them had barely graduated snipers school. Desperate times had called for desperate measures however; the defense needed every able tanker to protect our homeland.

Under my supervision were a Jagdpanzer IV, two Stugs, who happened to be brothers, and a Hetzer. My gaze drifted towards the Hetzer's bunker. "A tank that young shouldn't have to be out in this." I thought sadly. None of them should have. The only one I could rely on was the Jagdpanzer, he at least seemed to have a cool head. The Stugs were young and thought themselves invincible to the allies; their guns could knock them out with a single shot. The Hetzer though, my chassis drooped slightly in sadness, he knew he couldn't do anything. I could hear the fear in his voice at every report.

The allied juggernaut was approaching and there was nothing we could do. Once again I found myself thinking of happier times. Only four years past we were young and we were invincible, nothing could stop us. Nation after nation fell under our firepower and speed. Soon after our victories in the west our eyes turned east to the fertile open plains, it was there that we were destined to meet our downfall. The nation was shocked when a superior tanker appeared; my story, along with many others, began then. We were made to combat this new threat, and we succeeded. Our greed had been too great however, our forces were too thin and poorly prepared, the retreat began. Our superior firepower began to become overwhelmed by sheer numbers; to make matters worse their tankers were beginning to match our quality.

The allies were closing their vice around our last fortress; the Americans, British, and French in the east with the Soviets in the west. "I hope this wunderwaffe will end the war…" I mumble to myself quietly. No one was sure what this new weapon was, as far as we knew it was only a rumor. I was finding it quite hard to believe; a single weapon that could wipe out an entire army. A scoff of disgust escaped me; the only thing that I could trust on was my ammo. "At least it never disappoints me."

Not a moment after my comment the radio waves began to buzz with excitement. I couldn't believe what I heard, the American T57 himself was approaching! Quickly I aimed my sights at the slowly growing dot in the horizon. My doubt soon evaporated; there he was under a white flag, excitement began to grow in my engine. Here was our chance! The general of the entire western theater was exposing himself! My excitement was gradually being replaced with uneasiness in my fuel tanks. "What is he doing? Something doesn't feel right about this."

"Members of the German line!" His loudspeaker suddenly barked into life. "Surrender yourselves peacefully or be destroyed! There is nowhere left to retreat to, this is the end!" We were getting reports that the Soviet IS7 was announcing the same speech on our eastern front. Orders from high command were being passed down: «Load APCR and HEAT rounds. Hold until ordered.» It felt good to have a round in my breach again. "-ink of your families! Spare them from this unnecessary suffering." The T57's loudspeakers continued. "This mindless violence doesn't have to continue! You have been beaten. Admit defea-" His sentence was cut short, our own Jagdpanzer E-100 ended his life.

A cheer rang through the airwaves. "Achtung Kampfgruppe: Fire at will." I gave the command to my men. Tankers soon began to stream onto the plains towards our positions, spreading across the entire horizon. "And so it begins." I say while adjusting my aim towards a T29. The shot damaged his turret and I could see him lurch to a stop, his ammo had been hit. Suddenly the allied line began to retreat. Rather than cheer I began to look for their reason, we had not launched a counter attack. Something caught my sights, a single flying object coming right for us. My gears grinded in sudden nervousness, whatever that was it couldn't be good.

A tremendous roar engulfed the air; I could hear the cries of my Hetzer through the radio. Soon a similar white streak arched over our lines towards the allies. That couldn't have been a V-2 rocket, this was something much larger! Before I could focus on the lone rocket a second appeared. Word from high command confirmed all four rockets had been launched, two for each theater. Suddenly the world began to fall and I jumped from surprise. My bunker was lowering into the ground? What for? Darkness engulfed me, the radio was silent, all that could be heard was the dull roar from the rockets. The relative calmness exploded and I blacked out on impact.

"I couldn't tell you how long I was unconscious." I tell the silent E-25 and Jagdpanther. For once they didn't make a sound. "But when I did wake up… I woke up to this world." My barrel lowered in silent memory.

"You really were there?" The Jagdpanther asked in awe. "You were there when the bombs exploded?" He shared an uneasy glance with the E-25.

"Yes I was." My gaze fell upon them. "Let us pray it never happens again."


	2. Out of the Darkness

"So… What was the next thing you remember?" Siren asked. His voice sounded timid which surprised me; I had never heard him so down to earth before. My engine revved as I cleared my vents before continuing.

A blinding light woke me from my slumber. "It couldn't possibly be another bomb could it?" I thought as I squinted against the bright rays. Much to my relief it was only the setting sun. "Wait…" I began to reverse and soon my treads felt the soft earth beneath them. "I'm outside… My men!" I didn't even stop to think how I was outside, duty came first. As I rushed down the hill I saw that all but one bunker had lifted.

"Herr Weidner!" Came the shrill voice of the Hetzer. "You're alive! I'm so glad!" As the distance closed I saw the Hetzer, Jagdpanzer IV and Stug circling the still submerged bunker. "You have to help us! He's still not out!" The Hetzer motioned frantically at the ground. "He's still alive too, we can hear him tapping!" The Hetzer's frame was practically about to shake apart.

"Calm down men." I said as coolly as I could, my mind resuming its responsibility of Generalfeldmarschall. "Are there any reports of the enemy?" I asked with a wary glance down our defenses.

"Who the hell cares about the enemy!? My brother's in there!" The Stug shouted in anger. "What are we going to do!?"

I kept my demeanor as a plan quickly formed in my mind. "I know this is difficult son but you need to calm down." My barrel lowered itself down the hill warily and I continued. "You're the fastest of us, go to headquarters and report the bunker number. We'll get him out I promise." Not a moment had passed before he was already gone. I waited till I couldn't hear the sound of his tracks before turning to the other two, their figures were grim. I looked to the Jagdpanzer first. "You and I are going to recon for enemy movement." He lowered and raised his barrel in a salute. "And you-" I turned to the Hetzer. "Stay here and keep an eye on him." I glanced down to the bunker.

I lead the way slowly unsure of what would await us at the bottom of the hill. I noticed I wasn't the last one to emerge from the bunkers, though I certainly wasn't the first. Scattered throughout strategic points were groups of various assortments of tanks, most lacking leadership. I quickly gathered them together into a makeshift kampfgruppe. As we approached the bottom of the hill the ground beneath our treads turned into dry dust. I looked down in curiosity; now that I thought about it the grass seemed to be dry and dead on our descent down. What kind of power did these bombs have?

My question was answered as the trees suddenly disappeared, their branches ripped away from the trunks. A collective gasp ran throughout the group and nervous murmurs were exchanged. There was the remains of the allied army, scattered as far as my binoculars could see. The tanks were all still and silent, their forms distorted into unrecognizable hunks of metal. An entire wars worth of fighting couldn't prepare us for what happened next. I gave the order to examine the army for any survivors, though we doubted we would find them.

My fears were confirmed when I heard a hull groan. There was no distinguishing what it was. It looked as if it were once a T29, but it could have been a T34 for all I knew. I drove closer cautiously for a better look, to this day I wish I hadn't. His barrel had buried itself deep into the soft ground and was holding him suspended on one pair of tracks. The turret had melted into his hull from the intense heat. Each link had formed into the other; his tracks were one solid piece. I could hear a desperate struggle for breath. I circled to his engine compartment; the vents had sagged down into the engine itself. I lifted my sights to the front of him; I could have sworn I heard something. My drive shaft shuddered from sudden fear, he was still alive. Quickly I drove to the front of him to hear his quiet voice.

At first I couldn't believe what I heard. He was asking… No, he was pleading me to kill him. I backed away in horror; he wasn't asking for help, he was asking for death. "-are you there? Did you hear me? They're still alive!" I hadn't even noticed my radio till now. The tank in front of me continued to beg. Averting my sights I put him out of his misery. "This is Weidner to all tanks… Put them down." I broadcasted.

"For the next two days we continued the grisly process." Fang and Siren had gone deathly silent. "Similar results were reported on the western front." My engine stalled in a sigh. "I got what I wanted… The wunderwaffe did end the war."


End file.
